CareStream launches cloud-based PACS

CareStream Health has announced a new addition to its CareStream eHealth Managed Services portfolio of cloud-based, fee-for-use services.

The company’s new eHealth PACS Service is said to provide all the functionality of PACS -image management, viewing, distribution and storage – while lowering users’ total cost of ownership by reducing their investment in capital equipment, security technology and management personnel.

The new eHealth PACS Service is available in the United States and other selected countries across Europe, Asia and Latin America.

The first European healthcare provider to sign up for this service is a Netherlands-based group with three hospitals. They will use the service to deliver an enterprise-wide PACS solution for their three sites and to provide secure image access to remote clinicians.

"Contracting with eHealth PACS Services enables healthcare facilities to devote their resources to patient care and front-end clinical applications, while we manage the PACS infrastructure," said Diana Nole, president of CareStream Health’s Digital Medical Solutions.

Nole added: "Most healthcare providers can achieve lower overall costs by purchasing this service and will simultaneously benefit from our leading-edge management and security technologies."

With eHealth PACS Services, healthcare providers will connect to secure, remote data centres hosted and managed by CareStream Health.

Patient information can be shared with authorised clinicians over an Internet connection – without the need to build, maintain and upgrade a complex infrastructure. The service enables convenient remote reading for a primary diagnosis, as well as the ability to obtain a second opinion from another radiologist or specialist.

CareStream Health will offer the PACS service as an operating expense with a monthly fee based on the number of imaging exams produced each month.

This cloud-based service eliminates the danger of obsolescence since CareStream Health continuously maintains and upgrades its data centres and on-site technology.

Patient data and exam information are synchronized so identical information is available to all authorised users, regardless of location. An optional feature allows users to access advanced reading tools such as native 3D features and automatic registration of volumetric.

CareStream Health says its vendor-neutral infrastructure, which provides the engine of the company’s eHealth Managed Services platform, also allows the sharing of information among disparate systems.

EHealth PACS Services is the latest addition to CareStream eHealth Managed Services portfolio. The company’s eHealth Archiving Services stores DICOM and non-DICOM data, including patient demographic information, video files, x-ray imaging exams, laboratory and pathology reports, and other patient documents. The archiving service supports XDS and XDS-I protocols, as well as other DICOM and non-DICOM industry standards.

CareStream Health’s eMS cloud currently has more than 1 billion stored images worldwide, representing more than 500 terabytes of data. The company operates eight data centres in five countries throughout Europe and North America, with new centres planned for Japan and Argentina.